Adventures in Amsterdam on my 1984 stopover to Cold War Berlin

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT - photos of me and two Americans we met on a stopover in Amsterdam en route to Berlin

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT – drinking with two Americans we met in a bar on a stopover in Amsterdam en route to Berlin 1984

By HILARY GAVIN

SO Easter came and went and it’s almost a fortnight now since I posted my last Facebook round-up on my WordPress blog.

Much of my past two weeks has been taken up commenting on parish council matters – as you’ll discover if you visit my Facebook group which is dedicated to Sidlesham Parish Council and Hunston Parish Council reports.

Apart from this, I’ve been busy in my back garden preparing to plant seedlings and plants in vegetable patches, troughs and pots.

On a more personal note, I’ve also been recalling my adventures on a trip to Berlin in 1984 as a fresh-faced university graduate.

Rereading my brief stop-off in Amsterdam with my travelling companion, I couldn’t help recalling my escapades hitch-hiking around Italy with a young Brit – a handsome language graduate who was working as a waiter in West Berlin.

I had a whirlwind affair with this footie fan in the old German capital but it wasn’t a romance because he wasn’t smitten with me nor I with him. Still, we had a short fling in Berlin none-the-less.

To be honest, I have no idea why my new beau invited me to join him hitch-hiking to watch a footie match* in Hungary in the autumn of 1984 and why I said “Yes” because we would have had fat chance getting behind the Iron Curtain!

In fact, I do know why I accepted his invitation because I yearned adventure as a young woman and I wanted to explore new places outside Blighty instead of the stale routine of drinking in Irish bars abroad in permissive Berlin.

I’ll write about my adventures around Italy, Capri and the then-Tito’s Yugoslavia later in my WordPress blog but we were staying in a pensione (room) in northern Italy when I heard the news that the IRA had bombed The Grand hotel in Brighton.

I’d woken up early to hear the pensione owner – who couldn’t speak English – rapping on our window. All I remember was that he was getting very aminated and agitated as he flung his arms about shouting “boom” and “Maggie Thatcher“!

Odd times, indeed!

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy reading my Facebook post below introducing you to my travels as a graduate from Britain to Berlin via Amsterdam during the height of the Cold War.

By Hilary Gavin

Copyright 11th April 2026

I should say I’m not interested in football and I assumed I’d been invited to watch a Hungary v England game but I seem to recall my new beau was a Man Utd fan so we might have set out to watch the team play ETO FC in the city of Gyor. In any case, we never made it across the Hungarian border.

See my round-up of last week’s Facebook posts – beginning with my colour piece of my travels to Berlin via Amsterdam:

NB: I’m having a little hic-cup uploading my Facebook posts this afternoon so I’ll add them along with my latest posts on hilarygavin.blog and my archives later in the day.

In the meantime, you can read them on Facebook at my parish council reports, local commentary posts, Manhood Peninsula news and my gardening feature groups.

Hope you enjoy the read.

Hilary Gavin

Freelance Journalist & Writer

A freelance journalist who wants to see a return to public accountability in the local press

Hilary Gavin

Freelance Journalist & Writer

6 Southover Way

Hunston

CHICHESTER

West Sussex

PO20 1NY

Tel: 07940 444664

Email: grumpywoman@hilarygavin.blog

Hilary Gavin

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